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    Clothing is a language. It tells us about individual people: their personality, age, place in society and so on. If we want to know more about society, we can look at traditional clothing.

    The continent of Africa has a long history and a rich culture, and this is shown in traditional dress. You often find three colors— red, gold and green in the clothing. The first color stands for the blood of millions of people who suffered as slaves(奴隶), the second is for the rich resources of the African earth, and the third represents the grasslands of home.

    The patterns on the clothing also have a meaning. A common pattern is in the form of a cross “×”, which stands for “unity”. Another pattern is a rectangular（矩形） box, which represents “strength”.

    Because clothing has a strong social meaning, people are very careful in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious mistake to wear the wrong clothing, or to wear clothes in the wrong way. For instance, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband differently according to the importance of the social event. 

    Traditional dress also tells us about everyday life. African designs are famous for loose(宽松的) clothing. The climate, with the hot sun and wide temperature ranges(变化), requires that the clothes are comfortable for daily life. 

    Although many people wear western clothes, particularly in the big cities in Africa, traditional dress is very highly valued(评价). This is because it has deep cultural meanings.

    Heritage(遗产) is traditional customs, history and beliefs. We use the word "heritage" in many different ways. People talk about their family heritage, city heritage and national heritage.

    Today, heritage is changing. The Internet connects people around the world. In many ways this is a good thing, because we can learn about the heritage of other countries，and we can show our own heritage to the world. However, some people worry that traditional heritage is disappearing. In many ways, countries are becoming more and more alike(相似的). In most countries around the world, you can find KFC, Nike shoes, Starbucks coffee, American movies and so on. Some people think this is a good change, and others don't like it. You can decide whether or not it's a good thing.

    However, everyone wants to protect traditional heritage, and sometimes this is hard. For example , when a new KFC opens in your city， a traditional restaurant might have to close.

    That is why heritage protection is so important. Heritage protection is a simple thought. It means keeping your country's or your city's heritage alive. People do this in many ways. The biggest part of heritage protection is probably preserving (保护) buildings. Some suggestions of heritage protection are making sure your kids speak your traditional language, and teaching knowledge about heritage to them.

    The world is changing. No matter how it changes, never forget the heritage of our parents and grandparents.